Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Review: Princess of the Silver Woods

Why I Read It: This is the third in the trilogy. At least, I think it's a trilogy. When I read Princess of Glass, I didn't realize that it was the second book. I read Princess of the Midnight Ball afterward. I was kind of surprised to see this one on the shelf at all (this, folks, is why browsing is important).

A Quick Intro: This one is a twist on Red Riding Hood. (Princess of the Midnight Ball was a twist on the Twelve Dancing Princesses and Princess of Glass was a twist on Cinderella). This one focuses on Petunia, the youngest of the twelve princesses, who is now sixteen, placing this story at eight years after the first book.

Princess Petunia (Poppy was right, these flower names are kind of a mouthful) is kidnapped on her was to visit a noble lady (who may or may not have ties to the King Under Stone), whom she is fond of when she is kidnapped. Well, sort of kidnapped. It was an accident. And even after that little encounter gets untangled, things aren't going well. The girls are all having nightmares in which they are all transported back to the Palace Under Stone, and becoming increasingly concerned that these are more than just dreams- especially since her would-be kidnapper, Oliver, spotted shadows sneaking around the princess's lodgings- living shadows.

What I Thought: Sorry for the long intro (not so quick, I know). This is one of those stories that will only make sense if you have read the first book. You can get away with reading the second without prior knowledge (ask me how I know), but this one would be quite confusing.

Unlike some readers, I really liked Princess of Glass, Poppy is definitely still my favourite princess. Petunia is somewhere between Poppy and Rose in personality, and she's also the only one of the sisters who gardens. The story was good, if a little confusing at times, and some of the plot was a little bit anti-climactic. These books are interesting in that they take place years apart, so Poppy, who was the lead in Princess of Glass has grown up (she's 21 now) and Rose is 26.

The romance was... sort of spontaneous, but it is a fairy tale after all, and the was some build up, and it wasn't incredibly overdone. Basically, insta-love, but I was able to try and suspend disbelief. I really liked how some elements of the original fairy tales were woven in, as with the other two books, I found the twist marvelous. It was a quick read, and a decent conclusion, but Princess of Glass is still my favourite.

Fun Fact (And yes, I had to do some research, this is one original fairy tale I don't know... but ask me about Sleeping Beauty some time. Oh- or the Little Mermaid.): The original tale of little red riding hood involved cannibalism, and sometimes no red hood (and sometimes the main character gets eaten). It was also French. The woodcutter was an addition by the Brothers Grimm.